Bottle case



March 9, 1943. G, MO RDY 2, 13,355

BOTTLEACASE I Filed Feb. 17, 1941 3 70 7 .119 J! 15' Q W 12 I 7 z W'WH HI! l J 25 Z 1 22 Z] hwano'z o /HomzyA Patented Mar. 9, 1943 UNITED STATES: PTENT OFFICE 2,313,355 BOTTLE-CASE George Mordy, Pasadena, Calif.

Application February 17, 1941, Serial No. 379,243 6 Claims. (01. 217-19) In the handling of bottled goods, especially such in the brewing and soft drink businesses, it is customary for empty bottles to be returned to the bottling plant in the cases in which they are distributed. Upon arrival the bottles must be removed from the cases by hand for cleaning, refilling, etc.

Consequently considerable. hand labor is involved in the removal of these bottles from the cases and any attempt to empty the case all at once results in breakage of the bottles.

Accordingly it is one object of this invention to provide a case from which all of the bottles contained therein may be emptied in one operation, thus saving time and labor.

It is a further object of this invention to provide such a case in which the bottles in the removing operation are prevented from breaking.

It is a further object of this invention to provide such a case in which the bottles are normally supported by a bottom structure capable of shifting out of alignment with the bottles and thus permitting the dropping of the bottles through the case upon any desired unloading platform, belt r the like.

It is a further object of this invention to provide such a case which is simple, durable and economical of structure.

Further objects and advantages of this invention appear hereinafter.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a device embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 is a section taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a section similar to Fig. 2 showing the case in position for emptyin out the bottles.

Fig. 4 is a section taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, I have illustrated a case I including the side walls II and end walls I2.

Disposed within the case I0 is the web I3,

dividing the case into the conventional two dozen compartments by means of the lateral ribs I4 and transverse ribs I5. It will be appreciated that in practice the web I3 extends from slightly above the bottom of the case approximately onehalf way up the case, though, if desired, the web may extend fully to the top of the case.

The end members I 6 of the web I3 may be broken as at IT to leave a space therebetween.

In each of the end walls l2, below the web I3, 2. slot I8 is provided. A bottom I9, composed of lateral ribs 20 and transverse ribs 2I is disposed beneath the web I3 and having its end ribs lying in the slots l8.

A lever 22 is pivotally mounted, as by means of a pin 23 to the inner side of each side wall I2,

and is so disposed that a part of said lever lies across the handle openings 24. I

It will beobserved that the bottom I9 is so constructed that the transverse ribs 2| lie directly below the transverse ribs I5 of the web l3 while the lateral ribs 20 are spaced apart the same distance as are the lateral ribs I4 of the web I3. I

A pin 25 is provided upon each end transverse rib 2| adapted to be engaged by a slot 26 on the levers 22.

It will be noted that the bottom I9 is thus composed of a web structure similar to the web I3 and by reason of the slots I8 is slidably mounted so that it may be shifted, by means of the levers 22, either so that the lateral ribs 20 are diposed so as to support the bottles 21, as shown in Fig. 2, or so as to permit the dropping of the bottles through the Webs, as in Fig. 3.

The bottom I9 is thin and the resulting fall,

when the bottles are dropped out is not sufficient to cause breakage of the bottles.

Suitable stops (not shown) may be provided in the slots I8 so that when the handle 22 is thrown as far as it will go from vertical, the bottom I9 will be in position to release the bottles and when the handle 22 is returned to vertical the bottom will be in closed position.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that I have provided a bottle case, in which the bottles may be placed and then, by simply shifting the handles 22 and lifting, the entire supply may be emptied therefrom in one operation.

While the particular forms of the invention herein described are well adapted to carry out the objects of the invention, it is to be understood that various modifications and changes may be made Without departing from the principles of the invention, and the invention includes all such modifications and changes as come within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a bottle case of the type having a web portion dividing said case into a plurality of compartments, a bottom structure adapted to slide in grooves in the Walls of said case, said bottom structure including lateral ribs spaced substantially equidistant to the lateral ribs of said web portion, and means for shifting said bottom structure from position where said lateral ribs of said bottom structure underlie said lateral ribs of said tially equidistant to the lateral ribs of said web portion, and a lever pivoted upon said case and engaging said bottom structure for shifting said bottom structure from position where said lateral ribs of said web portion to position where said lateral ribs of said bottom structure lie across said compartments.

3. In a bottle case of the type having a web ribs of said bottom structure underlie said lateral portion dividing said case into a plurality of compartments, a bottom structure adapted to slide in grooves in the walls of said case, said bottom structure including lateral ribs spaced substantially equidistant to the lateral ribs of said web portion, and a pair of levers pivoted upon said case and engaging said bottom structure for shifting said bottom structure from position where said lateral ribs of said bottom structure underlie said lateral ribs of saidweb portion to position where said lateral ribs ofsaid bottom structure lie across said compartments.

4. In a bottle case of the type having a web portion dividing said case into a plurality of compartments, a bottom structure adapted to slide in grooves in the walls of said case, said bottom structure'including lateral ribs spaced substantially equidistant to the lateral ribs of said web portion, and a pair of levers pivoted upon said case and engaging said bottom structure for shifting said bottom structure from position where said lateral ribs of said bottom structure underlie said lateral ribs of said web portion to position where said lateral ribs of said bottom structure lie across said compartments, and handle apertures in said case adjacent said levers whereby the hands of the operator may engage said levers and said handle apertures simultaneously.

5. In a bottle case of the type having a web portion dividing said case into a plurality of compartments, a bottom structure underlying said web portion and having a plurality of spaced ribs spaced apart substantially equidistant to the spacing of one set of parallel walls in said web portion; said spaced ribs adapted in bottle discharging position to lie substantially directly beneath said parallel walls and in bottle supporting position to lie across said compartments.

6. In a bottle case of the type having a web portion dividing said case into a plurality of compartments, a bottom structure underlying said web portion and having a plurality of spaced ribs spaced apart substantially equidistant to the spacing of one set of parallel walls in said Web portion, said spaced ribs adapted in bottle discharging portion to lie substantially directly beneath said parallel walls and in bottle supporting position to lie across said compartments; and means engageable by the hand of an operator for moving said bottom structure from one position to another.

GEORGE MORDY. 

